The invention is based on a priority patent application EP 07016228.4 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to an exterior rear view mirror for vehicles, having a mirror head with a housing in which an adjustable mirror pane is positioned and in which at least one light source is arranged which is located in an area behind a light window of the housing.
Exterior rear view mirrors are known which have a housing having at the back side a light window. In the housing of the mirror head a light bulb or a LED is provided which serves as a turn signal. The light emitted by the incandescent light source or LED penetrates through the light window to the exterior and is visible to oncoming traffic. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,171 describes a solution with a rear view mirror including a turn light signal. The signal lens is partly use as a light pipe to guide lights along the surface of the lens. To achieve the yellow colour of the turn light signal the LEDs are selected to emit yellow light or to emit white light passed through a yellow coloured plastic sheet.
Legislations in different countries define a yellow or amber light for the turn signal. In a result either the lens of the turn signal yellow or amber light in the mirror is coloured in yellow/orange and the light source emits white light or the light source emits coloured light in the requested wavelengths and the lens of the turn signal light is fully transparent.
It is an object of the present invention to embody the aforementioned exterior mirror such that the appearance of the lens in the mirror is coloured in a random colour without influencing the legally prescript turn signal light colour.